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Published: August 17th 2008
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9:30 E and T came downstairs on the bang of my bedroom door as it slammed open into the wall. I ignored them and burrowed under my covers. They played happily in my room, occasionally climbing on me, but otherwise leaving me alone.
10:00 I fixed breakfast for kids: pepperoni pizza, scrambled eggs, mango and toast with jam. MT was not feeling well at all and J slept in as well. The kids and I worked on some bead embroidery…they are making panels so I can make myself a quilt! They are quite good at stringing the beads and bringing the needle from the front to the back and then to the front again! E always uses a pattern: often yellow, clear, pink, take a stitch, repeat. T prefers choosing random beads. Both do a beautiful job.
1:00 Out to lunch with J and the kids to the New Factories on Haifang Road just between Changde Road and Xikang Road. We ate at a French place called Café Montmartre: I had herbed chicken, salad and French fries. The kids actually ate some spaghetti with the sauce mixed in…although not happily. From an adult perspective, the food was very good,
Jeff
He was very friendly! but expensive. The waitress was kind enough to find a yellow straw for E and a blue straw for T, despite the fact that she had already give each kid a black straw.
J took kids to Railway museum where they had lots of fun and road on a simulated train.
I set off on my own, waving good-bye to the kids and J as they zoomed by me in their blue taxi. I turned right on Haifang Road and then left on Jiangning Road and meandered up to the Jade Buddha Temple. A Chinese man walked up to me as I was taking pictures of the yellow temple and red lanterns. His English name was Jeff, though his business card read: Zhang Mei Fang of the Shanghai XinYe Tea Co., Ltd. He began explaining to me the history of the temple while standing outside it in the rain. He invited me to go to his teahouse around the corner when I was done. I paid my 20 RMB to go in and explored. The temple was somewhat smoky and the air was full of ashes. Occasionally gold robed monks walked by. People were at prayer: holding incense
or burning paper to their foreheads and then out to their God before kneeling and repeating. It was very serene, and I have to admit I felt a bit intrusive. Inside the buildings, I felt cool and relaxed. Until I noticed that every building except the main temples has at least one person selling something! The place was like a giant gift shop. I did see many fine examples of Buddha carvings.
I went to the tea room next, mostly to use the restrooms. A Chinese woman wearing a blue and white traditional shirt beckoned me, “You want to try tea, girl!” She seated me at a table and proceeded to make me samples of tea. It was interesting how fast her fingers moved when pouring boiling water, rinsing and measuring the tea out. I tried 3 samples. Number 1 is good for waking up. Number 2 is supposedly helpful in losing weight and to protect your liver. It tasted rather sweet. Number 5 was good for relaxing, helping you fall asleep and for skin allergies. Interesting. The ritual of making tea was beautiful: measure the tea, rinse the leaves, and steep the tea. I enjoyed the samples, especially
the first that tasted faintly like coconut and is apparently made with ferment coconut milk. I went ahead, likely stupidly since I am sure the tea is more expensive there, and bought some tea. Then I explored the temple some more.
I paid the extra 10 RMB to go upstairs to see the 1.2 meters sitting Jade Buddha. I climbed up a winding staircase that got smaller and smaller in height the higher I went until I was ducking my head and shoulders. At the top I walked through a short hallway with some sort of artwork and statues with coins stuck in them by visitors and turned the corner and met the Buddha. This Buddha was a translucent green decked out in gold. It was housed in its own chamber with and attendant whom you could buy oil to add to the burning lamps or postcards since photography wasn’t allowed. Once a couple had finished their prayer and hurried out, I had the chamber to myself. It was very peaceful. The extra 10 RMB ($1.50) was worth it, but I had to wonder whether the people who go to pray have to pay the entrance fee. If they
do, it doesn’t feel right to me.
When I left, Jeff was waiting and invited me again to visit his tea shop, just down the street on the SE corner of Anyuan Road and N Shanxi Road. I didn’t want to be rude (big mistake!) so I tried some more teas. The flowering jasmine was delicious. I bought 3 balls for what I later learned from J was an outrageous price-50 RMB! Oh, well. I will look on it as a learning experience and I now know that tea is sold by weight!
I left with my expensive tea and walked south N Shanxi Road and the turned right on Changping Road before turning left on Changde road. I walked a long way down Changde road, which had walls on either side and was rather deserted except for some locals before I met W Nanjing Road and turned left to find Jing’an temple. It was 5:30 and too late to buy a ticket to enter. But I looked around, made up my mind to come back and caught the number 2 metro line to Beixinjing Station.
6:15 I flagged a taxi home; this time easily! On the
way I saw a moped carrying a man and a woman seated sideways over the wheel behind him, holding a baby on one knee! A whole family and a tragedy waiting to happen. I wished them luck, but they probably don’t need it…what seems so terrifying for me to even witness, they do every day.
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